Way back in 1992, a presidential candidate by the name of Bill Clinton relied on a catchphrase that helped him win the election: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Thirty-two years later, the economy once again is top of mind. So are wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. So is immigration. And crime. And homelessness.

Meanwhile, one of the greatest threats of our time has been largely ignored. That would be climate change, a crisis that is affecting virtually every region of the nation and, indeed, the world.

Yet we’re hearing no shouts of, “It’s the climate crisis, stupid.” Instead we’re mostly hearing ... crickets.

Climate change has been barely a footnote in Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, though she did refer to it as an “existential threat to the entire planet.” (For the record, she was in Africa when she made that statement.)

Former President Donald Trump, on the other hand, pivots from calling it a hoax to “one of the great scams of all time.” He is especially scornful of wind energy.

“It sounds so wonderful, the wind, the wind, the wind. .... The wind is bulls---,” he said during a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania. “I’ll tell you, it’s so expensive, just too expensive. It doesn’t work.”

Let’s pause here for a quick fact.

Wind generated 11.4% of California’s electric power in 2021. It was the second largest renewable energy source, behind solar.

A burgeoning green energy hub

Trump’s misguided — and, yes, stupid — climate policies could have direct consequences for my home county of San Luis Obispo.

California’s last nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon, is located here. While its operating life has been extended past its original closure date of 2025, it’s unclear how much longer it will remain open. The region has been preparing for that economic hit by rebranding itself as a hub of clean energy and green technology.

Offshore wind is a key component of that transformation.

Three companies have been awarded leases to develop offshore wind farms in Central Coast waters, and studies are underway to determine where to develop a port to service the wind turbines.

That’s happening with the blessing of the federal government.

The Biden-Harris administration has been a big proponent of offshore wind development; in 2021, it announced a goal of developing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030 — enough to power more than 10 million homes. Harris is expected to continue along that path.

Surprising no one, Trump is rabidly opposed to offshore wind. He has repeatedly promised that, if elected, he will issue an executive order ending offshore wind “on day one.” (Among other complaints, he alleges that offshore turbines drive whales crazy.)

Energy experts say it’s unlikely that Trump would kill wind farms already in operation, but he could make life miserable for developers with projects in the pipeline.

“For example, he could slow-walk the federal permitting process, as he did in his first term, or rescind lucrative clean energy tax credits that wind developers rely on. His rhetoric alone could create enough uncertainty that big banks and other investors get nervous about loaning billions of dollars to finance wind farms,” Boston public radio station WBUR reported.

S&P Global raised another possibility: A Trump administration could order federal agencies “to essentially agree with opposing parties in court where commercial anglers and other petitioners are opposing the wind farms. But industry and state-level momentum could overcome such opposition.”

S&P, a market research firm, quoted Timothy Fox of ClearView Energy Partners on a couple of possible scenarios.

In the best case, the Trump administration would refocus on oil and gas, but renewable projects would be allowed to go forward. Under the scenario of retaliation, “Fox sees a second Trump administration reversing projects that were implemented by the previous administration,” S&P reported.

Paris 2.0

Remember, Trump is the president who withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement — a United Nations accord signed by 175 countries — during his first administration.

He rolled back — or attempted to roll back — more than 100 environmental regulations, including laws limiting emissions from power plants, cars and trucks.

He has already promised oil and gas executives that, if reelected, he will further weaken environmental regulations — an enticement to encourage them to donate $1 billion to his campaign.

And despite his friendship with Elon Musk, electric vehicles — which are extremely popular in California — Trump has vowed to “end the insane electric vehicle mandate.” (There is no “mandate,” though the federal government has set pollution standards for automakers that would be hard to meet without producing more EVs or other low-emission vehicles.)

‘You’ll have more oceanfront property’

To sum up, if Trump is reelected, he will no doubt undertake a fresh assault on the environment — and he won’t stop at targeting windmills.

Support for projects that can protect coastal counties like San Luis Obispo from sea level rise aren’t likely to get much — or any — support from a Trump administration.

In fact, he sees an advantage to coastal erosion: “You’ll have more oceanfront property,” he said in an interview with Musk.

Funding for climate action research could be in jeopardy as well, affecting research at universities such as Cal Poly, which has received millions of dollars in grants to work on climate action. The university has been conducting research examining how to capture carbon emissions from farming operations, create more sustainable cattle farm operations and reduce water used in irrigation.

Such goals are anathema to President Trump, who has accused Democrats of wanting to “crush our farms, destroy our wonderful cows.” (There is no plot to crush farms or destroy cows.)

In short, the former president would be an environmental menace to California, the United States and the entire planet.

As important as the economy, foreign relations, immigration and many other issues are, the climate crisis cannot be underestimated.

To quote Vice President Harris, it is an “existential threat to the entire planet.”

And to quote President Trump, that is no “bulls---.”

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